Ridgerama

Well its been back to the office and back to almost hard work this week but as Adrian is departing soon we headed out to ride Ridgerama today which I've been interested in finding for some time.

The route climbs up Taylor basin road to the Taylor Mining cabin (1hr 45 climb) and then up to the top of Camels pass (45 mins hike and bike) where instead of descending the High Trail we cut up left to the peak and followed an invisible trail across the ridges of several mountains on shale and scree slopes. Too loose to pedal up most of the climbs but loose and drifty to decsnd down again.

The views were incredible as you would expect. Even with the large amount of smoke haze from the large fires still burning a few kms away.

Adrian took 7hrs or so last time but some of that was trying to find the trail. This time we left at 12:45pm and had to be at dinner by 7pm so he kept us moving, no rest.

We dived off the ridge down into Cinnabar meadows and climbed the switchbacks to pick up the North Cinnabar trail right from the top this time. The trail became more obvious and we descended twice the number of dusty switchbacks than our usual ride. 40mins of descending until we got back to the lodge.

Just 4hrs 45mins to do the ride- and my legs could feel it- it's an epic and should be done at a slower pace to enjoy those views but it certainly was an excellent workout! Must do again some day.

We had an excellent buffet dinner with Dale, Jane, Bobbi and Jack at the Tyax Lodge. Food here is superb as usual! Then a few beers to say farewell to an emotional Liz. No-one ever wants to leave here!